Government issues ultimatums to landlords to surrender rent deposits left by tenants

Government through Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA) orders landlords to surrender rent deposits left by tenants.

The Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority (UFAA) on Tuesday, June 6, issued a 24-day ultimatum to holders of unclaimed financial assets, an order cutting across banks, landlords and telecommunications companies among others.

The authority gave holders who intended to turn over the assets before Friday, June 30, a penalty waiver in a notice.

According to UFAA, landlords who withhold unclaimed deposits after their tenants vacate the premises are among the targeted holders in the directive.

Banks and other financial institutions are also required to return unclaimed money that clients have held onto for a long time.

The Unclaimed Financial Assets Act 2011 details that anyone who willfully fails to report or surrender unclaimed assets is liable to a penalty of between Ksh7,000 to Ksh50,000 for every day they withhold the assets.

“A person who willfully fails to render any report on unclaimed Financial Assets shall be liable to pay a penalty of seven thousand shillings but not more than fifty thousand shillings for each day the report is withheld or the duty is not performed,” the Act details.

The move is part of the authority’s push to encourage Kenyans to claim up to Ksh52 billion lying idle after beneficiaries fail to claim them.

In an earlier notice, UFAA Chairperson Francis Kigo asked Kenyans to claim their assets and directed them to confirm the status of any assets registered under their names using a short code *361#.

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“We want Ksh52 billion to be returned to the mainstream economy because that is the primary goal of the unclaimed assets authority.

“We are in the process of telling people to come and get their money. We are doing a lot of advertisements including printing names on the print media,” Kigo stated.

Some of the assets abandoned by Kenyans include unpaid wages, unclaimed gifts, check overdrafts, self deposits and life endowment insurance.

How to claim assets

The authority directed Kenyans to check their unclaimed financial assets using the short code *361#.

The shortcode prompts instructions that the user then follows to access information on the status of their unclaimed assets and accounts.

To recover the funds, one can download forms from the agency’s official website, fill in the details, and submit them to the UFAA.

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